Facebook may face action from Germany’s antitrust watchdog. According to Reuters, the German antitrust watchdog is planning to order Facebook to stop gathering “some” user data.
The Federal Cartel Office, which is Germany’s national competition regulator, has been investigating Facebook for the last 4 years. The office is accusing Facebook of using its market dominance to collect data from its users without their knowledge or consent.
Now, the Federal Cartel Office says it will present its findings to Facebook and recommend a course of action. Facebook, however, is disputing the findings of the watchdog: Reuters reports:
The Bild am Sonntag newspaper said the watchdog will present the U.S. company with its ruling on what action it needs to take in the next few weeks. A Facebook spokeswoman said the company disputes the watchdog’s findings and will continue to defend this position.
Specifically, the watchdog takes issue with Facebook’s use of third-party apps to acquire user data. This includes the data collected through Facebook’s own WhatsApp and Instagram applications, as well as game and website sign-ins and “tracking of people who are not members.”
The specific action the Federal Cartel will take against Facebook is unclear at this point. The Bild am Sonntag newspaper only says that the watchdog “plans to order Facebook to stop gathering some user data.”
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